Court sentences Bank MD to 5 years imprisonment for fraud

Justice Benjamin Lawan Manji of the Adamawa State High Court has sentenced Grace Karka, Managing Director of Bonghe Micro Finance Bank, to five years imprisonment following her conviction for fraud.

Karka faced prosecution by the Gombe Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on two counts of criminal conspiracy and cheating, involving the sum of ₦32 million.

One the charges reads: “that you Grace Andreas Karka and prince Moses Batalu between August 2020 and March 2021 in Yola, Adamawa State within the jurisdiction of this honourable court did agree amongst yourselves to do an illegal act to wit theft in the sum of N66,792,960.00 from Bonghe Micro Finance Bank Nigeria Limited with account number 2013668857 domiciled with First bank Nigeria limited by dishonestly moving the said sum without necessary approval contrary to Section 61(2) of the Adamawa State penal Code Law 2018”.

Upon her arraignment on November 11, 2024, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the two-count charges, setting the stage for a full trial.

In the course of trial, EFCC said the prosecution counsel, Mubarak Tijani, called in witnesses and tendered several documents to prove his case, while the defence counsel called in three witnesses.

Justice Manji, on October 17, 2025, while delivering judgment, said the prosecution had proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt and went on to convict the defendant accordingly on counts one and two.

The judge also sentenced Karka to five years imprisonment with an option of N3m each on counts one and two.

The sentence is to run concurrently. In addition, the court ruled that the convict should restitute the balance of N29,877m to the petitioner.

Karka’s journey to the Correctional Centre began when, sometime in 2021, the petitioner, Bonghe Micro Finance Bank, carried out an audit on the accounts of the bank domiciled with First Bank of Nigeria Ltd, the EFCC narrated, quoting the bank.

The audit revealed an unbalanced account and irregular flow of transfers to a certain account holder who was not a customer of the bank.

Further checks later discovered that it was Karka, then managing director of the bank, who transferred the total sum of ₦32,000,000 to one Prince Moses Batalu without the necessary approval.

The bank added that all efforts to recover the said sum proved abortive.